Fmr SYRIZA minister unveils post-elex plan to buy back majority stake in dominant electricity utility PPC

Greece’s Public Power Corp. (PPC), the dominant electricity producer and provider in the country, landed directly in the campaign fray this past week, with one former minister of the current main opposition party pledging to buy-back a large stake of the utility from private sector investors – assuming leftist SYRIZA wins the upcoming May 21 election.

ATHEX-listed PPC was burdened with nearly one billion euros in accumulated losses and facing the specter of bankruptcy when New Democracy (ND) party won the July 2019 election and formed a government, with a subsequent restructuring more-or-less deemed as a success. However, the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused electricity (and fuel) prices to soar in Greece, leading to calls for a greater state role – via PPC – in providing cheaper and subsidized electricity to consumers.

Speaking during a podcast this past week, former energy and environment minister Giorgos Stathakis, who is again vying for Parliament on SYRIZA’s ticket in Chania prefecture (Crete), said his party’s plan is to buy back 17 percent of PPC’s share capital, or roughly 65 million shares, and restore the state’s status as the utility’s majority shareholder.

In laying out the proposed buyback-cum renationalization, Stathakis said the vehicle for achieving this goal will be the equally ATHEX-listed Independent Power Transmission Operator S.A. (ADMIE or IPTO), which the state, through direct or indirect stakes, controls 51 percent of shares. Interestingly, 24 percent of ADMIE’s shares are held by the state-run Chinese State Grid International Development, with the prospect of the latter gaining a majority stake essentially fizzling over time.
Stathakis pointed to ADMIE as “gradually” buying back the 17-percent stake needed to raise the state’s share capital above 50.1 percent.